Blogs

Animals and Computers: The Humorous Truth

Posted on July 28, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Technological advancements are becoming universally accessible. Once reserved for brilliant scientists and high achieving Chimpanzees named Ham (yes, we are referred to the first Chimp in space), advanced technologies are now in the hands of everyone. From pension collecting seniors to diaper wearing toddlers, everyone seems able to master new technologies. The pinch and spread mechanism for enlarging images on iPhones is common knowledge. Syncing a smart phone with work calenders and personal photographs has become a basic skill. Bragging about proficiency in Internet searches has become kind of, um, embarrassing; we all have access to Google!

But as commonplace as mastery over various technological platforms has become, we still haven’t made computers popular among members of the Animal Kingdom, aside from Primates. It’s shocking, really, that animals haven’t gravitated toward technology. It would make their lives so much easier! Forget migrating during the winter, birds could just order sunlamps online for extra vitamin D. Grizzly bears struggling to hibernate for a full 3-6 months, could catch up on skipped episodes of Lost on their tablet without leaving their cave or disturbing their roommates.

We’re pretty sure our animal friends haven’t overlooked the perks of being computer literate, so why do they avoid computers? Here are some of our thoughts:

Lets start with dogs.

Initially, we figured that canines avoid computers because operating a computer without opposable thumbs is downright difficult, but after more extensive contemplation, we have determined that dogs just don’t like computers. Why? Well, they can’t stick their heads out of Windows (7), for starters. And can you imagine how frustrating it must be for them to be unable to “mark” every website they visit? Also, commands like Fetch aren’t available on all platforms. How unfortunate for our dog friends! Taking into account these factors, no wonder dogs are unmotivated to master computers. There’s really just nothing in it for them!

As for sheep,

you can brag to them all you want about OS X Lion and how it’s the most advanced OS operating system, but sheep are just not going to trust any technological apparatus that would choose to be run by one of their predators. They might be dressed in wool, but that doesn’t make them wool-headed!

Oh, and speaking of running, if you bring up any activity, even a sedentary one, that involves running to a snail, a turtle, a sloth or a koala, they’re just going to ignore you. They already suffer from time management problems due to being among the world’s slowest moving creatures, so how do you expect them to learn any new skills?

Unlike the lethargic animals, there are others, like elephants,

that would really be interested in using computers, but it’s the darn mouse that keeps scaring them away! What can you do?

After much contemplation, it looks like there are, in fact, good reasons that animals have chosen to stay behind the times and continue to avoid learning how to use a computer.

At the end of the day however, it’s their loss. We can attest to the fact that having access to a computer and the incredible applications and programs available is life changing. Really, where would we be without time sucking social media resources, search engines, time saving automation technologies, an endless selection of games and other entertainment resources? We would be bored!

So, keeping this in mind, we would like to give a drink-less toast to computers and new technologies for providing us with fun and life changing programs that are changing our lives and the world around us, even if our animal friends choose to deny it!

Until next time,
Success Team

Posted in IT Industry, Misc | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Muggles and the Magic of version 5.6

Posted on July 25, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

For the past decade, Harry Potter has enchanted audiences of all ages with wizardry, magic, Muggles, and mystery. While at our company, we don’t cast spells and fight dark lords, we do like to think of software solution if IT professionals as our own sort of spell book, used by Muggles in IT services professions to whip up a little business automation magic of their own.

And, just as J.K. Rowling introduced new spells and potions to her audiences over the course of the Potter series to address the various challenges faced by Harry and his trusty sidekicks, we also recognize that our collection of business automation features needs to be augmented to address the evolving needs of our customers. So, today we excitedly announce that our software has been revamped to increase the strength and usability of its features. With soon-to-be-released version 5.6, everything from the software’s layout to its workflow automation features has been enhanced. The additions and augmentations to the version 5.6 are so effective that they would even succeed in disarming You-Know-Who, much like an omnipotent Expelliarmus charm.

So, what sorts of charming and magical features should you expect from version 5.6? Read on for an inside peak into the exciting additions to our PSA solution.

Statistics Board:

How magical would it be if you could conjure up statistical information regarding the efficiency and effectiveness with which your IT services business is being run in an instant? We’re guessing you would find it pretty incredible. For this reason, we have incorporated a new Statistics Board into the version 5.6.

With the speed of a Nimbus 2001, the new Statistics Board provides you with instant access to advanced query and summary information on a variety of your company’s performance indicators. Access personalized views of your company’s information by adjusting display settings and filtering data and employee options.

The affect of the Statistics Board’s analysis on your business could be bewitchingly beneficial!

QuickBooks Batch Invoice Creation Wizard:

Before understanding the scope of Voldemort’s evilness, Harry might have wondered what was in a name and why Wizards preferred to keep him nameless, but, as Harry soon learned, sometimes even a name is a powerful thing. We can attest to this fact and tell you that this features’ name is anything but inconsequential or misleading!

The new Invoice Creation Wizard is an exciting time saving utility that’s as enchanting as Wizards themselves. With this new feature, you are able to create multiple invoices at the same time, at both the customer, service and ticket level, with a quick wave of a wand. To be honest, its with a few clicks of a mouse, but you get the idea…

The Batch Invoice Wizard even enables you to generate hundreds of invoices instantly!

Preview Tab:

The Pensive stored in Dumbledore’s office proved mighty helpful to Harry Potter by enabling him to review memories, both his own and others. We figured IT services providers would also benefit from having easy access to the history details of an event or relationship with a customer. For this reason, we have included a new Preview Tab in our Accounts, Tickets and Assets windows.

From each Preview Tab, view many details, including customer, task, appointment, charges, linked and history information, in one rich-view display. Within the Preview tab, you can also initiate actions, such as adding Charges and setting up appointments. The best part is that you can perform all of these tasks without navigating away from the Preview tab!

Not only does this new view format enable you to enhance your understanding of your relationships with your customers, but it also helps you improve and expedite the service with which you provide them. In exchange for superior service, you are bound to build customer loyalty and a superior reputation.

Ticket Merge:

Duplicates often spring up when they’re least wanted, just ask those who have been afflicted by the Gemino (Duplicatation) Curse! As much as you try to avoid duplicate Tickets, sometimes these things can’t be avoided.

With the new Ticket Merge feature, you can seamlessly merge two Tickets for the same customer into one. The Ticket Merge utility automatically merges data from one Ticket to the other (Master Ticket), and deletes the redundant Ticket. All data linked to the deleted Ticket is transferred to the Master Ticket.

Not only does this feature help to ensure that your records are organized and easy to follow, but
it also ensures that no data is lost in the processes. This is spellbinding business automation technology at its finest!

All in all, the soon-to-be released version of our IT providers management platform includes many new additions and enhancements. But, if the story of Harry Potter taught us anything, it would be to leave the audience wanting more. So, please, stop back again soon for additional insider information about version 5.6 and its new, fantastical features and magical business management utilities.

Even though we’re all a bunch of Muggles, there’s no reason not to embrace the new version 5.6 and start running your IT business like a Wizard of the highest order!

Until next time,
Success Team

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Joy and the Workplace

Posted on July 20, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Monday through Friday there is one universal master of time and controller of calenders: the Emperor of Employment. While not as widely recognized by name as Chronos, the Greek god and keeper of time, the Emperor of Employment currently plays an active role as ruler over people’s schedules.

You see, for today’s workforce, time is not our own. Under the Emperor’s command, we spend the majority of our walking hours involved in work related activities. From commuting to work to being at work, commuting home from work, preparing for work-related obligations, and staying connected to work via various platforms, us professionals, in all fields, dedicate so much of our time to our occupations. And how does the Emperor of Employment sway so many of us to commit ourselves to our work? The promise of financial security.

It’s a necessity and worthwhile goal for us all, and yet, it’s possible that in our hunt for financial security we have lost focus of what really matters. Some of us have lost the pursuit for excellence, others of us have lost pride for the tasks we do, but the most commonly misplaced concept is a sense of direction and an understanding of the life’s path on which we wish to travel.

Like most people, we are often guilty of losing site of why we do what we do. Yesterday however, we were reminded of our internal aims by a blog post by Mark Schaefer, CEO of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. In his July 19th post, Mark reminded his readers that the goal of life is to be joyous. Such a goal can only be achieved “If you know why you are on your path, then you also have internal guideposts to lead the way.” Being joyous requires you to know why it is that you undertake various tasks and how the completion of these tasks brings you closer to achieving your life’s goals.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the benchmarks set by external loci of control, but why should external entities quantify you and your worth? Measure your success by your own ruler, by achievements that mean something to you and reflect what you want to contribute to the workplace, to your field, and to the world.

Stephen Covey, in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, also talks about the importance of establishing personal goals and proactively setting out to attain these goals. At the end of the day, the responsibility for our individual destinies, the achievement of our personal goals and the experiencing of joy rests on our individual shoulders.

Yesterday, recognizing all of this, we chose to restrain the Emperor of Employment and assess for ourselves why it is that we work for this company, and what it is we hope to achieve here as part of the CRM and PSA software development team. And here are some of our realizations:

We enjoy toiling over the same projects to make them perfect because there is an inherent value to a job well done. We show up to work day after day not just because of the paycheck, but because we believe in the value of our software. We derive joy from the start-up and small to mid-sized IT business owners who thank us for providing them with a business automation software that really helps them streamline their workflow without depleting their bank accounts.

After evaluating our work and our commitment to our work, it turns out, we aren’t slaves to the Emperor of Employment after all. We truly do derive joy from the work we do.

So, thank you for helping us reach our personal employment goals and for helping to bring joy to our office!

Until next time,
Success Team

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Social Media: A New Era

Posted on July 14, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Over the last year, the world has become abuzz with hypotheses about the future of the Internet. We all see it coming. A new age of Internet. But what exactly will it bring?

Our guess? The Internet will revolve around social interactions and referrals through social networks.

As we see it, the shift toward a social network-based Internet has already begun. According to Experian Hitwise, a leading online competitive intelligence service, Facebook received more hits in 2010 than Google’s search page. With social media sites gaining more traffic than search engines, it seems as though the age of search engines, as we know them, is really coming to an end. Consequently, an increasing number of people are getting their information from within their social networks. Want to know where to shop for good deals on back to school items? Good thing some of your Facebook friends have posted a link to a site that worked for them, and members of your Google, Shopping Friends Circle are also streaming information about the best sources for back to school goods. What qualifies as breaking news? Check your friends’ Tweets, status updates or link posts. That’s where the answer lies.

Spending time searching the web is becoming a thing of the past. Already, ads are being tailored to match our search histories, so its not so far fetched to predict a future in which information is prioritized for us based on the recommendation and habits of members of our social networks. At the end of the day, we all trust our friends, family members and colleagues a lot more than ads anyway.

Minus the Sudoku debacle back in June and the minor kangaroo incident that transpired last Tuesday, coming to terms with the evolution of the Internet hasn’t been that hard for our staff. In fact, we kind of like the fact that technology keeps changing, enabling and compelling us to think differently and evolve with it.

To make sure that we aren’t left behind, we have been drinking a lot of energy drinks, occasionally lifting weights (fine, they were paperweights, but they still count for something), but, most importantly, we’ve had to contemplate how this new age of Internet will affect the way that businesses advertise and interact with current and potential customers.

Here’s what we have decided: The best option for companies is to start utilizing social media tools now. Social media is a powerful marketing platform. The benefits of creating an active online presence is already crucial for companies, especially small businesses building a following. The advantage of having a strong presence in social networking platforms will only continue to grow.

Like us, a growing number of businesses recognize the importance of being actively involved in social media outlets. This new realization is especially influencing the behavior of small businesses. In fact, according to the Small Business Success Index, a survey sponsored by the University of Maryland’s Robert H Smith School of Business and Network Solutions, at least 31% of small businesses use social media platforms. In spite of the fact that a growing number of small businesses are investing in a social media presence however, 62% of social media users feel that there is no return on their investment.

So, recognizing the need for a social media presence, how do you make your monetary and time-based investment count?

Our thoughts?

Stay engaged! Build relationships with customers and develop a greater online presence for your company. By building an online community following, you will be rewarded with the benefits that social networks provide: free word of mouth advertising.

IT services providers and MSPs have an added incentive to proactively bolster their social media presence in order to counteract the decreasing amount of time they spend servicing their customers on-site. As an increasing number of tasks are performed remotely and proactively, services providers can continue to build relationships with their customers using social media platforms instead of allowing their relationships with their customers to wane.

There is nothing more compelling to potential customers than knowing that the people they know and trust stand by and endorse a product or service. By engaging current customers and developing a social media presence, you are building a persuasive legion of promoters who will help you market your business to the world.

Welcome to the power of the new Internet!

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Time Tracking

Posted on July 11, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Human beings are very advanced creatures. We can overcome gravity and catapult ourselves into the ether. We can circumvent all sorts of time and space limitations, ordering woodcarvings from Peru while texting friends in France and cooking dinner. And yet, we still have difficulty keeping track of very basic things– things like socks. No matter how advanced we are, the washing machine still bests us, returning our laundry to us clean, but minus a sock or two. And like socks, we seems almost powerless when it comes to mastering time.

IT services providers, in particular, face the challenge of keeping track of their hours. Time tracking is by no means an easy feat! It’s not that time gets away from technicians, it’s just that in providing customers with email responses, phone support, and remote monitoring and management (RMM) services, there are simply so many short periods of service time to record and bill. It is difficult for IT professionals to account for all of the time they allocate to serving their clients.

So, as an IT professional, how do you continue providing customers with a variety of service options without losing money due to the difficulty of keeping track of time?

With our PSA, the answer is very simple: the Timer.

The Timer provides you an easy-to-use means of tracking your time and ensuring that you are maximizing your billable hours.

From within the app Tickets window, among other places, you can access the Timer through either the Tools menu, by clicking on the Timer icon on the top right of the screen, or by using a Ctrl+T shortcut.

Once accessed, the Timer enables you to record your time spent servicing a client for a designated Ticket. Every Timer window also provides you with a blank text box in which you can enter in text related to the service being performed or the task being executed to be automatically included in related charge records.

Other helpful Timer features includes the ability it provides you to start and stop the Timer as many times as you need in order to properly record all of the time spent working on the Ticket item for which you are providing support. This functionality enables you to multitask by running multiple Timers concurrently. While working on one task (in one Timer window), the rest of the Timers are paused. By clicking on the Start icon on a second Timer window, you are able to restart the time management of a given activity. Simultaneously, the initial Timer is automatically paused..

By clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the top of the Timer window, you can easily display the Timer’s details.

Once you have completed your activities and resolved the issue, you can convert the time recorded on the Timer into a Charge by clicking on the “Add Charge” button. Not only are the Charges automatically calculated and linked to the Ticket, but the time recorded by the Timer and any text details entered into the Timer’s detail window are also automatically copied to the Charge Hours field (see the highlighted sections in the screenshot below).

Through this automation feature, you no longer have to worry about how you are going to pin down time or keep it from running away from you. The Timer function lets you easily track your hours and ensures that you can convert all the time you spend servicing your clients into billable charges. As an added benefit, tracking your time enables you to analyze not only your efficiency and time allocation trends, but also your profitability.

So, while our IT CRM software can’t help you keep your socks from being lost to the washing machine, our professional services automation (PSA) solution can bringing humankind a little bit closer to excellence as the Timer helps IT professionals conquer time and charge management once and for all!

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Mutualistic Relationships and APIs

Posted on July 5, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

In science, everything gets analyzed and categorized. From separating animals into different classes, families and species to dividing elements into different groups, scientists are a little gung-ho about characterizing just about EVERYTHING. This love for sorting things even extends to relationships between organisms.

Scientists study organisms’ interactions and dub them parasitic, commensal or mutualistic. Simply put, if one organism benefits at the expense of another, their relationship is deemed parasitic. If two organisms co habitate without impacting each other, the relationship is called commensal, and if the two organisms’ interactions benefit both organisms, the relationship is identified as mutualistic.

Humorously, the same terms that scientists coined to categorize relationships in the the wild kingdom also apply in the corporate world. In business, parasitic relationships are probably the most common. Competition pits companies against one another — each one vying for a share of the market. Sometimes, the market is so large, or the companies are disparate enough that competitors can coexist without being detrimental to each other. This relationship is an example of commensalism. As rare as a commensal relationship is in business however, a mutualistic relationship is far more valuable and irregular. Most companies try to suppress the growth of other companies in order to continue their own fiscal growth, leaving very little room for mutualistic relationships.

And yet, in today’s modern age, change is upon us. Especially in the high tech industry, collaborative efforts between companies are springing up everywhere. The catalyst for this change: Open APIs.

An application programming interface (API) is a part of a software program that enables other programs to interface or communicate with the initial program. Opening up API codes to the public allows entire communities of developers to build supplemental programs and applications to integrate with and strengthen the initial program.

It is through use of APIs that YouTube video content can be shared on websites like Facebook, and The New York Times is available on the Kindle.

The mutualistic element of open APIs is that the initial program can be expanded upon at a minimal cost. Simultaneously, the secondary developers can monetize on the original program with their add-on interfaces. So, not only does the initial developer get a stronger, more robust program to offer to the public, but the creators of the API-based programs can also capitalize on the initial program. These secondary developers turn a profit by tapping into the already established market share etched out by the initial program.

In the case of open APIs, this mutualistic and symbiotic relationship actually extends beyond the developers to the consumers. Because costs of increasing the scale and functionality of the original program are kept low, the initial program and all of the related interfaces can usually be obtained by the consumer at a low cost. So, not only can the consumer procure a robust system, but the initial application and all of the related platforms are made available at a relatively marginal cost.

We are dedicated to keeping our PSA’s and CRM’s software features contemporary, functional, and easy-to-use. As technologies continue to rapidly evolve, providing us with more efficient ways to manage tasks and an increasingly mobile lifestyle, our PSA software advances too. We are committed to giving our users access to performance enhancing, time saving technologies that keep up with the times. We look forward to continuing to highlight more of our features, including additional mobility modules, in the future.

The result of opening our API to the public is that our users get the benefit of having an extensive research and development (R&D) team working on their professional services automation (PSA) software! Anyone can access our API and help grow the functionality of their business management solution to meet their exact needs and requirements. This reality allows our system to constantly evolve into a stronger system.

So, while scientists might get a little carried away with categorizing just about everything, they did get one thing right. There are relationships between multiple entities in which all entities benefit. Mutualistic relationships do exist, and surprisingly enough, they exist in business and they exist with us at our company.

To learn more about our PSA and CRM software open API, including its new enhancements, please contact us.

Until next time,
Success Team

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The Age of Sharing

Posted on June 30, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Once upon a time, thoughts were intended for internal or personal discourse; thoughts weren’t meant to be disseminated to the public. Today however, influenced by Social Media outlets, humanity has been transformed. Now, we believe in full disclosure, and not just to our friends and family. Our thoughts and activities should be shared with the world. So, you ate a Greek omelet with Feta cheese and Kalamata olives for breakfast? That’s worth a Tweet to your 344 Followers. Spotted Mark Zuckerberg’s doppelganger at your corner market? That’s a mobile photo upload and Facebook status waiting to happen! Per status update, your cousin Becks finally landed a job? “Like.” Soon, you will even be able to express your approval of a website created solely for the purpose of selling origami flowers with Google’s +1 feature.

With all of the sharing happening around us, we have decided to share with you a few thoughts, limiting the character count of each revelation to Twitter’s 140 character cap. So, here goes:

1 – The opposite of lazy isn’t productive, its PSA, perseveringly & sedulously active (aka professional services automation software). (130 characters)

2 – If you’re scratching your head at our use of the word sedulously, youre not alone. We’re showing off our lexicon to impress you. Did it work? (140 characters)

3 – To manage a competitive IT or MSP business of any size, you really need a quality PSA … the software solution, that is. (121 characters)

4 – Automation software lets you free up your schedule so that you can bill more time instead of spending your time managing your billing. (134 characters)

5 – Our CRM and PSA software offers affordable & robust automation solutions specifically designed for small-midsized IT services providers and MSPs. (130 characters)

6 – With the PSA software, manage everything from customer relationships, to RMM tickets, on-site & remote service calls, dispatching & invoicing! (136 characters)

7 – The solution enables you to sync your data with other software. (60 characters)

8 – With the Web Interface, employees can access any privileged accounts, ticketing, billing, and history information from any computer! (132 characters)

9 – With the Customer Web Portal, customers can create/update tickets and view appointment and billing information from any computer. (129 characters)

10 – Since we don’t have the superpower to freeze time, we created the software to free up time so you can fill everyday w more work, fun & profit! (139 characters)

11 – Even without superpowers, we are still able to dominate skill games like online games Shift & Portal, and real-life games like Set & Risk. (138 characters)

12 – At our office, we “Like” doing our work, hearing back from happy customers, drinking coffee and raiding the kitchen for snacks! (134 characters)

13 – We are addicted to tech blogs. We read just about everything. No, seriously! (77 characters)

14 – Providing our customers with dedicated and professional customer support is both our priority and source of company pride. (122 characters)

15 – Most notable, we are obsesses with trying new and fun ways to tell you about us and our PSA solution. Hope you’re enjoying our creativity! (139 characters)

Thanks for joining us as we shared some thoughts with you. Don’t forget to “Like” or Retweet today’s post to your Friends and Followers if our content resonated with you.

Until next time!
Success Team

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Mobility and Your PSA

Posted on June 27, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

This may be old news to you, but mobile devices are overtaking computers on Wi-Fi networks. According to Meraki, a cloud networking provider, mobile devices now account for 58% of devices on Wi-Fi networks. If you are wondering what contributed to the astounding increase in mobile device activity from 32% in 2010 to today’s 58%, we would like to share with you our theory: portability.

Portable technologies have been evolving at an incredibly rapid pace, transforming our expectations along with them. Not so long ago, the world was humbled by the introduction of the Walkman and other comparable portable music devices. Then, came the miracle of the cellular phone. Each one of these advancements however, only impressed us for a short while, because the limits of portable technology are being continuously pushed. Now, we live in a time in which instant access has become a way of life. Our wireless, portable reality is no longer limited to music or phone calls. Now, for information, communication, recreation, and everything in between, we expect that we can always be connected through portable devices so that we can mange everything from work to emails to fun while on the go.

As an IT services provider, the need to stay constantly connected is even more crucial. As part of your profession, it is incumbent upon you to stay current on tech trends and new technologies, so if your CPA clients are able to take care of various tasks on their mobile devices, so should you. Consequently, whether you’re managing your customer relationships or service requests, you need to make sure that you are able to take your clients and your work on the road with you.

With our CRM, we provide you with various methods of staying in touch with your customers and managing your workflow while on the go. Email Connector, for example, is one of our professional services automation’s (PSA’s) handiest portable features that helps simplify your workflow while providing you with mobility.

The Email Connector feature offers three automation features that help you manage your business remotely, by using any device’s email management tools, including mobile devices. With the Email Connector, you can:

Create A Ticket

A customer can submit an initial support request via email. With CRM Email Connector, a new Ticket is automatically generated in CRM and the customer is immediately sent an automated response to the support request that includes the Ticket number for future reference. Email Connector also automatically distributes the ticket to all of the Ticket Recipients, so you can receive an email notification to your mobile device that a service ticket has been opened and filed under a ticket number.

Corresponde with Technicians and Customers

Email Connector can also manage email threads, if the ticket number in the subject line matches a ticket in the software Ticket database. Whether you want to respond to your customer or your customer wants to add information to a ticket or respond to an email from you, Email Connector can enable all of the emails to be managed and stored under the corresponding ticket as long as the email subjects contain the ticket number. Most importantly, with Email Connector, every technician can reply to tickets using their mobile devices and the reply is sent to all of the relevant recipients, including customers and other technicians. You never have to worry about keeping all of the relevant technicians and customers in the loop. Email Connector takes care of the organization and forwarding of communication for you, automatically storing all of the correspondence under the Ticket in this help desk solution.

Add Notes or Comments to a Ticket

With Email Connector, you can manage the content of the ticket’s history and the information that is disseminated from the comfort of your mobile device and with the ease of sending an email. If, for example, you want to add a file or note to a ticket without distributing the information to the ticket’s entire list of external recipients, you can do so by emailing the data to the support email address and Cc or Bccing the Email Connector. The only other requirement, is that you include the ticket number in the email’s subject. In doing so, Email Connector automatically adds your text to the ticket’s history without forwarding the message to the ticket’s external recipient list.
With the various challenges of running a business, the last thing you should have to worry about is how to keep your business’ software current enough to meet society’s standards and your business’ needs. In fact, you should never have to worry about your software. It’s your software provider’s job to worry about your software for you.

We are dedicated to keeping our PSA’s and CRM’s software features contemporary, functional, and easy-to-use. As technologies continue to rapidly evolve, providing us with more efficient ways to manage tasks and an increasingly mobile lifestyle, our PSA software advances too. We are committed to giving our users access to performance enhancing, time saving technologies that keep up with the times. We look forward to continuing to highlight more of our features, including additional mobility modules, in the future.

Unit next time,
Success Team

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The Power of PSAs

Posted on June 21, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

As a techie, you probably love TLAs, also known as three letter acronyms. Terms like CAL (client access licence), NAT (network address translation), PDF (portable document format), and VPN (virtual private network) are probably commonly used by you in your line of work. But what about PSA? Are you using a professional services automation software in your business?

PSAs are a newer addition to the world of business automation software. Often designed to be industry-specific, PSAs are a way of integrating the management of all of your office’s tasks. At our office, we created the CRM and PSA software to offer a fully integrated PSA system to help small to mid-sized IT services and managed services providers (MSP) manage projects, service and expense tracking, billing, tasks, technician dispatching and CRM related operations.

What’s so incredible about PSAs is that these software solutions help you maximize your time and resources while maximizing your relationship with your customers. In other words, truly functional PSAs are software solutions at their finest because they transform technology into silent business partners, into deputies of business management tasks.

So, how do you go about choosing the right deputy to join your team? How do you determine which PSA fits your needs the best?

When shopping around for PSAs, it is important to consider the following variables to make sure you select the PSA system that will most benefit your company:

  • Affordability

    • While 80% of small to mid-sized business owners in the United States polled by the National Small Business Association (NSBA) said that they see automation software as being the key to the success and growth of their companies, nearly 50% find that the initial investment in the software is too high. Moreover, over a third of the business owners polled also complained that they find the maintenance costs of the software, including updates, is higher than they anticipated.

    Because of the wide range of contract types and prices associated with the various PSAs on the market, it is crucial to evaluate the affordability of PSAs prior to purchasing them. As such, we make sure that there is complete transparency so that you know what your costs will be upfront. We also make sure that we do all that we can to keep our solution for MSPs affordable. If you would like to learn more about the affordability of our offering, please click here.

  • Functionality and Usability

    • About 50% of PSA users find that their PSA systems are too complicated to match their
    daily needs. From the reports being too difficult to customize, to the software being so complex that they require upwards of one month to install and run the PSA software, it is important to make sure that the PSA you select actually helps you streamline your workflow and provides you with the time saving features you need.

    You should try to select an easy-to-use software that enables you to perform tasks quickly and that allows you to streamline your business. Remember, it makes more sense to select your PSA based on your actual needs.

    In addition to making sure that your PSA fits your needs, it is also equally important to
    make sure that your PSA software is easy to navigate and use. At our company, we try to ensure the usability and functionality of our software by offering online user guides, video tutorials and community forums to ensure that users can learn from the company and each other on ways to best integrate CRM into their workflow so that the PSA’s benefits can be maximized.

  • Compatibility

    • In addition to considering the price of a PSA system and the tools the system actually provides, it is also important to consider the PSA’s vendor because along with your PSA, you are actually choosing a third party partner for your company.

    Your PSA’s provider is the entity that will help you take advantage of your PSA system; the provider will help you learn how to employee the PSA properly. The provider is also the entity that can derive from you how best to improve the system in the future to better meet your needs.

    We understand these needs, and try to ensure that our company provides you with accessible and customer oriented service. Always. From our quick-response email support, to our forums, demos, videos and guides, we try to make sure that we are always accessible to our clients. Moreover, we listen to our customers and take their feedback into account when developing new versions of the software. We understand that access to customer support is a crucial element of selecting the most appropriate PSA for your company and we make sure to live up to our customers’ expectations.

    Keeping these three factors in mind, we encourage you to explore the wonderful and exciting world of PSA technologies. The time efficiency and assistance that PSAs, such as our PSA software, provide to their users will impress you and make running your company much more manageable and profitable.

    Until next time,
    -Success Team

    For more information about the PSA software for managed services providers, click here

    Posted in IT Industry, Product | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Power of PSAs

    Master Your MSP or IT Business

    Posted on June 16, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

    Most industries are feeling the pinch of today’s economic climate resulting in conservative and cautious spending. Consequently, we were surprised when MSPmentor relayed that, according to AMI Partners, U.S. small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) with fewer than 100 employees are predicted to spend 4% more on marketing in 2012 than in 2011. That’s $36 million! As small to mid-sized managed services providers (MSPs) and IT professionals, what can you do to stay competitive without succumbing to the burden of hefty marketing expenses? Moreover, what can you do to hone or maintain a competitive edge?

    The best piece of advice that we have come across regarding the financial solvency and growth of small to mid-sized IT businesses was brought to our attention by MSPmentor. MSPmentor relayed comments made by Michael Drake, CEO of masterIT, at the TruMethods SchnizzFest conference in Philadelphia, in which Drake said of his MSP company, ‘“We simplified.” Instead of selling services on a per-device or per-user basis, masterIT now offers predominantly monthly, or time-based contracts. By “simplifying,” masterIT was able to increase its revenues by creating a steady stream of reoccurring monthly charges instead of a fluctuating aggregate of per-device or per-user charges.

    While this model may not be the optimal structure for all IT services providers and MSPs, it is important for SMBs to evaluate their price models and the history of all of their contracts and accounts in order to assess the best way to simplify their company structure to increase revenue. Using professional services automation software, you can easily evaluate the profitability of your client services with system generated reports and models. The software customizable reports enable you to review and analyze client information by running Account and Contract activity reports, among other insightful reports, to help you best evaluate your company’s structure and profitability. Based on this information, you can determine which business and price model you should adopt so that you will be most
    successful.

    Another great way protect yourself from the expense of bolstering and growing your company is to take full advantage of online resources. Tech forums, like the our software forum, can aid you with the management of your customers’ service needs. These sites are an accessible and instantaneous problem-solving tool that can help you serve your customers faster and increase your competitive edge. Similarly, PSA software can help you automate and streamline your workflow, enabling you to increase your billable hours, accommodate more customers and earn a reputation for providing efficient and timely service.

    Moreover, for insight into the IT industry, you can stay informed and competitive by scouring blogs for useful tips. While there are a slew of options available, we recommend choosing readable and advice-filled blogs. By gaining insights into the IT industry, your competition, and pertinent trends, you will be able to impress your current and prospective customers by being informed, knowledgeable and reliable.

    Most importantly, instead of relying on costly marketing campaigns to grow your company, you can find leads, build a name for your company, and create marketing and branding initiatives with the aid of social media outlets. From searching social networking sites for keywords that indicate that an individual or company is a potential customer to optimizing your website to draw in more traffic and increasing your company’s virtual presence in order to strengthen your company’s name recognition, there are a variety of affordable, if not free, ways for you to optimize your marketing resources and promote your company.

    Running SMBs pose a litany of challenges, but the cost of building, branding and marketing your company should not be the strain that impedes your ability to be successful. While most SMBs focus their resources on marketing efforts to counteract today’s economic hardships, choose to be different. Choose to stand apart. Learn from the leaders in the IT industry and choose to take control of your business by managing your resources effectively. Use a PSA to manage and streamline your business. Use information to improve your prowess in the field, and maximize your online presence to build name recognition. Combined, these elements will help you and your company succeed!

    Have a good weekend,
    Success Team

    Posted in Company, IT Industry | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Master Your MSP or IT Business